Overview
- Authorities reported late Wednesday that confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have risen to about 1,759 with 600 confirmed deaths, and investigators are validating two suspected infections in Kisangani that could expand the outbreak to Tshopo province.
- The World Health Organization and Africa CDC say the outbreak is still intensifying and that many Ebola treatment and isolation centres are operating at or near capacity, leaving limited beds and strained patient care.
- Response operations face large practical barriers including active fighting, population displacement, unpaid frontline workers staging protests, shortages of staff and supplies, and gaps in contact tracing that allow infections to go undetected.
- Laboratory testing has been rapidly expanded from a few dozen tests per day to about 2,000 daily across decentralized labs, and WHO‑sponsored PARTNERS trials began in early July to test the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral remdesivir.
- Public health experts warn that the rare Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or specific treatment, and that continued insecurity, funding shortfalls, and community distrust could let the virus become a persistent regional threat with wider humanitarian impacts.